US History II

Our Unit 4 exam will be on Monday, Nov 21. I am out of town presenting at a conference (the AAR in San Francisco) but Dr. Lisa Boehm from Urban Studies will be there in my place to give out and collect the exam. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving break and I’ll see you on the other side of the turkey and pie.

On Friday in class, I wrote a list on the board of 11 reasons former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (whose resignation is covered in your book) thought — in retrospect — that the United States had blundered in Vietnam. Here is the list, and for you snorkelers/divers, you can read excerpts on Google Books from the original if you like. Think about whether you agree with this list and what evidence you can think of to support or refute McNamara’s statements.

• We misjudged North Vietnamese and Viet Cong’s geopolitical intentions and exaggerated their dangers
• We viewed South Vietnam in terms of our own experience instead of theirs
• We underestimated the power of Vietnamese nationalism
• We didn’t have enough trained advisors for Asia in positions of responsibility in the military and the State Department, and had too few well-informed senior diplomats
• It was high-tech warfare v. low-tech people and failed to win their hearts and minds
• Didn’t involve Congress and public debate enough
• Didn’t retain popular support at home, were too secretive
• We have no “God-given right to shape every nation in our image”
• It was a unilateral action and all unilateral actions are doomed
• Although the US is powerful and rich, it can’t solve every problem in every nation
• It proved too hard to sustain a long-term effort and momentum over many different presidential administrations at the top levels of the military

My recommendations for studying: review Chapter 30 closely. Be able to identify, list or discuss events that happened during the Vietnam Era both in the US and in the region of Vietnam. Have a working understanding of how the conflict began, how it progressed, and how it ended. Be able to distinguish among anti-war organizations and talk about the rise & fall of a protest movement and some of its main events. Consider your notes from the M*A*S*H episode and what cultural productions like that program add to our historical understanding of the era. Re-read Theriault’s article and be prepared to discuss the contradictions and complexities of the Vietnam Memorial, and of the wall’s role in American public memory about the war.